From chill pine-laden coffee shops to hipster-ish urban bistros, Bandung offers a wide variety of restaurants and cafes for travelers to check out after shopping the many outlet stores scattered throughout city or even after a jaunt through its cultural tours. During our three-day stay in town, we were able to sample what Bandung has to offer in terms of hip food places.

Located on a grove of pine trees along the Djuanda Forest Park, Armor Kopi is one of the many cafes littering the base of these towering giants. We went there early one morning after a hearty buffet feast at the Sheraton Bandung, the air still nippy with a ghost of a mist just below the tree line. Since we just had our fill, we simply ordered coffee and tea, plus a few choice desserts on the sides.

Armor is short for Arabika Multi Origin Kopi. You won’t find any frappucinos here, instead you get legit brewed coffee using Indonesian coffee beans. And the unique thing about it is you get to choose how to process your coffee using either a Hario V60, French press or a moka pot.

The open-aired café is located near the slopes of the forest park. So, you order inside the wooden shack, wait for it to be served, and consume your drinks on the many tables set on the two-level porch outside with the pine trees as your backdrop.

Diners have a choice of having their meals at the Café Burangrang or Burangrang Kitchen Indonesia, both of which faces the lake and serves mostly International dishes. The Pasar Katulistiwa Food Court, on the other hand, has a more local flavor, serving traditional Indonesian cuisine.

But the best place to enjoy an intimate meal is at the popular and iconic Bird’s Nest section of the park. Elevated ten feet above ground and seemingly resting on tree trunks, diners can enjoy a their food while cocooned on larger than life spherical nests.

Set on a seemingly an old heritage house with its ground floor transformed into a restaurant, Roemah Nenek serves Indonesian and International comfort food for travelers looking for a more classic vibe to go with their meals.

Its name literally means Grandmother’s Home, and its interiors pretty much looks like your gramma’s house; heavy intricately carved wooden chairs and tables, old framed photographs and paintings, wooden windows, stately trims on the walls, and heck, even a mini grandfather clock!

Vanilla Kitchen and wine is situated on a quiet tree-lined sidestreet a few hundred meters away from Bandung’s iconic Gedung Sate Building. Its entrance, a swinging double-glass door filled with bundles of dollars, can be reached through a flight of bare concrete stairs.

Inside, everything is finished in a combination of unpainted wood, bare concrete, bricks and glazed train station tiles. With a high sloping ceiling and numerous light vents, the atmosphere is airy, natural and very organic.

Tables are almost haphazardly set about, with a few set up ala breakfast in bed on the balcony and the mezzanine above. Enter another door and an inner hall divided by a set of window frames opens more space for diners. The best location for me, however, is the concrete deck just outside the mezzanine space; perfect for bottles of cold Bintang on chilly Bandung nights.